There are two ways the cross country team can view its finish at the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America Championships Saturday at Van Cortlant Park, in the Bronx, N.Y.
The team can see the finish as a disappointment, placing 18th of 19 teams. Or it can look at it in a positive light, noting that four of its top five finishers were underclassmen.
With only one senior on the roster, the team will probably lean toward the latter. Sophomore Adin Mickle paced the Owls’ in their final meet of the season. He posted a time of 27:09.8 to finished 34th in the field of 165 runners.
Mickle is having a fine follow-up season after being named the team’s Most Valuable Runner last season.
He has been one of the Owls’ top five finishers in six of the seven meets this season, including the team’s top runner in its last three races.
The only race he failed to place among the Owls’ top five was at the Monmouth Invitational, the team’s first meet of the season.
Mickle’s fellow classman, Adam Moffit, was Temple’s second finisher, traversing the course in a time of 28:59.6.
He placed 119th, 12 places ahead of senior
Dave D’Addario. D’Addario, the team’s lone senior, reached the finish line in a time of 29:30.7.
He was also a member of the men’s cross country team last year, its first season in 20 years.
He was the team’s second runner in the Atlantic Ten Conference Championship last year and finished fourth at the conference championship this season.
Another sophomore, Jim Waddington, finished the five mile course in a time of 29:52.2, good for 139th place.
Waddington has also frequented the Owls’ top-five finishers list. He has completed five of the teams’ seven races in the top five.
Freshman Kyle Fekete rounded out Temple’s
top five, finishing 144th with a time of 30:05.2. In his first year at Temple, Fekete has twice been a top five finisher for the Owls.
His other top five finish came at the Paul Short Invitational in Bethlehem, held in September.
Terrance McNeil can be reached at tmac32@temple.edu.
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